


Pretender

by FeralPrince56



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst, Goro's Fools Journey, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Post-Canon, Post-Dream Ending, Slow Burn, Swearing, everyone has a palace
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:26:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29449263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralPrince56/pseuds/FeralPrince56
Summary: It’s a day like any other: The Phantom Thieves all off on their own adventures, living in their happy worlds, like Ren playing chess with his favourite Detective Prince, safe and sound, even if it’s partially by force. All the while said Detective Prince has a nagging voice in his head that just won’t stop. Listen to it, won’t you?Submit to my reality, Wildcard.There is no point in fighting destiny.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40





	1. Hell Sent

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! I'm back to writing persona fic though be warned, this one very much has endgame spoilers of the Royal so if you're trying to avoid those, I'd suggest to come back some other time.

_You’re still refusing to submit?_

“It appears that the others are getting used to my presence around here.”

“They kinda have to if they want to use the cafe as a hideout,” Ren insists, looking down at the chessboard in front of them while Goro reaches back to grab his coffee cup from Ren’s desk, "Or a spot to chill in with good coffee."

Today had been particularly slow, not only because it was raining outside and so Sojiro deemed that he wouldn’t need Ren’s help, but also that Goro had shown up early in the morning and asked to play chess 2 hours ago.

And that game still had no end in sight with how long they’d been taking per move.

“Ryuji, Haru and Futaba still appear quite weary of me but everyone else has started to act like I actually belong in your little group. Even Sumire claims that I play a bigger role in your life than she does, despite everything,” he takes a sip and watches Ren move his pawn forward.

Ren leans back and waits for Goro to make his next move, but the other seems far more interested in their conversation than he does in the game. He should’ve known better that chess was just a flimsy excuse to have a conversation in private, preferably up in his room.

Ren has little choice but to indulge him, “You _are_ part of the group, Goro, but I can’t blame Haru or Futaba for trying to stay as far away from you as possible. Even if things have changed.”

“You saw to that,” Goro nods knowingly and takes another sip, “Regardless, we still never resolved our… dispute. Now that I don’t have to hold back, I was hoping we could have that rematch with nothing in our way.”

Ren smirks, “I did promise you, but I’m not exactly sure how you’re expecting us to fight unless you think a fist fight would suffice or you just shoot me out back.”

Goro pauses, “I’m not going to shoot you, and a fist fight wouldn’t be a show of any kind of skill on either of our parts. I appreciate the sentiment at least, perhaps one day we can come to some kind of arrangement. It's not like our previous options are impossible, as adamant to them as you may be,” he finally moves his piece, and Ren immediately moves his own, killing his queen.

“Checkmate,” Ren says and raises an eyebrow, “But you didn’t come here to play or even win, did you? That was a pretty sloppy game and a little long by your standards. Why are you here then? No bullshitting.”

“The same reason as always. You know I don't give up easy,” Goro stands up and reaches into the inside pocket of his jacket to get his phone out, “although I suppose there’s something else if I can't persuade you. A favour I’d like to ask of you, really.”

“Is it the same as always? I’m still going to say no. You can't change my mind on that.”

“It isn’t. I told you, it's a favour,” Goro pulls up a link in a tab on his phone and shows it to Ren, “There’s an investigation I’ve been working, and I think it might be of interest to the Phantom Thieves. This started out as an overdose case, but I believe it’s a little more complex than that. Normally the police dismiss cases like these, but I refused to, and I believe I may have stumbled upon something more intriguing.”

Ren takes Goro’s phone into his hand and reads through the report as quickly as he can, “A prostitute was found dead in a hotel in Shinjuku, cause of death is overdose, drugs were found everywhere, no other evidence was found,” He hands the phone back to his rival, “Sounds like an open and shut case, right?”

Goro shakes his head, “That’s what the perpetrators of these circumstances always want you to think. A sex worker committing suicide or overdosing is almost always the pathologist’s way of writing that someone doesn’t want their secrets to be spilled and is willing to hire someone to clean up their mess. No one cares for a prostitute who knows too much and has outlived her usefulness to them.”

Ren doesn’t push the subject any further than it needs to be, so instead he asks him something else, “I’ll take your word on it, who’s the culprit and what did they do to warrant someone’s death?”

“It would be easier to just list what he hasn’t done,” Goro puts his phone back in his pocket, “Long story short, I believe this poor woman overheard a conversation she wasn’t meant to. Possibly about his coke addiction although that’s not particularly uncommon or, more likely, how he’s been paying off the employees of his office to ignore his various transgressions with other male employees. I'm sure he'd become particularly obsessed with stopping anyone from revealing that to his wife and two sons.”

“He’d kill over that?” Ren raises an eyebrow, “That’s excessive.”

“Mm,” Goro hums in agreement, “If it’s to hide something like that, they’d happily eliminate someone they barely consider human to begin with. To them, it’s about as emotionally taxing as blocking someone on social media. Unfortunately all the evidence I’ve obtained is circumstantial or of witnesses who refuse to speak publicly about this. I want to get a confession out of him, and I think you know how.”

Ren shrugs, “Just wait a few days and I’m sure it’ll resolve itself. You know how these things go.”

“And wait for another innocent person to die?” Goro raises an eyebrow, “For fucks sake, Ren, when did you become so- never mind, don’t answer that. I’ll assume then you won’t even bother asking the others cos they’re all just as brain dead as you are.”

Ren gets up himself and walks up to his desk where he pulls out a card and gives it to Goro, “You that eager to go on some kind of pointless suicide mission? Be my guest. I’m not putting anyone in danger anymore over some false sense of justice. But go on, keeping going if you still think your soul needs more redemption. If that's even what you're after.”

_You're better off making him believe that._

Goro snatches the red and black card from his hand and pockets it, “I’ll be at Shibuya station at 8 this evening. If you come to your senses, meet me there. If not... well I suppose you can at least do me the kindness of checking tomorrow morning if I’ve managed to come back. I’d appreciate at least someone reporting my death. Don't bother looking for my corpse,” he turns to the stairs and makes his way out, “see you around, Joker.”

On his way out of the café, he bids Sojiro goodbye as well and grabs his umbrella to make sure he doesn’t get too wet outside. At least this kind of weather insured him that the shadows wandering mementos tonight wouldn’t be too aggressive.

The bell chimes behind him, signalling his departure once he leaves the café and his shoes immediately splash against the wet cement. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. He didn’t have to listen to Yusukes terrible financial decisions, Ryuji’s constant praise of how great the Phantom Thieves were, the gossip going around Shujin that he couldn’t give less of a shit about. It might actually be quite peaceful.

The manpower certainly would have been welcome, but he’s wandered mementos on his own plenty of times before, what’s just another time?

_This would all be easier if you just let go._

Goro stops in his tracks and leans against the wall, grabbing his head with his free hand and making sure no one could see him in the small alleyway before whispering sharply, “Get the fuck out of my head. I’m not just another puppet you can toy with!”

_Very well, if that is what you wish. However, I would still appreciate having a face-to-face conversation. Join me, won’t you?_

Goro grunts as the noise in his head gets loud enough to prevent him from even considering the suggestion. He’s barely able to make out the words on his own, “F-fine, urgh... have it your way.”

_You know where to find me._

And like that, the noise was gone and with it the headache it was giving Goro. Once he recovers, he’s grateful that no one’s seen that strange display and keeps walking to the station as if nothing had happened. By now, however, he’s almost certain that if he had made a complete fool of himself everyone would simply forget by the next day.

That’s just how it was now.

That’s how everything went now.

In this shitty reality, only Goro seemed to care that nothing made sense anymore, that no one but him had the willpower to oppose fate.

He doesn’t even notice the steps he’s taken between the alleyway and the actual train he’s in but suddenly the announcer declares they’ve reached Shibuya and he’s already at the station, moving through it to get on the right train that would take him to his crappy apartment.

Well, it wasn’t crappy by anyone else’s definition of the word.

But it was one of the things he’d still kept as a gift from his pathetic excuse of a father and the rest of his goons for being their hitman and therefore, it sucked. At least it was better than being homeless or worse, be at the mercy of Ren Amamiya and the other Phantom Thieves.

He passes through the station to get to the platform for his train back home so he can rest before his own adventure, but he’s too distracted to notice the woman who’s carrying far to many things to see where she’s going, and he collides with her head on.

The bags go flying everywhere as Goro and the woman hit the floor. The detective gets up immediately and tries to collect all the bags in order to help out the woman, “I’m sorry, I should have been paying more attention and-.”

“Yeah, you should be sorry!” The woman unexpectedly shouts back at him, “Who knows what might have happen to my dress and my-,” she cuts herself off when she finally looks at who’s been collecting all of her stuff for her, her tone immediately changing, “Ah... no, it’s totally my fault, I couldn’t see anything and it’s so incredibly sweet of you to pick up my bags for me!”

Goro hands the young woman her shopping bags back to her and waits for her to leave but she keeps on staring at him instead, “I’m sorry, do you need my help with anything or-.”

“You’re Goro Akechi, aren’t you?” The woman asks, much to Goro’s shock. Since the day of reckoning it didn’t seem like anyone remembered him anymore. Sure his name would pop up from time to time on the news as some people wonder where he’s gone but beyond that no one’s actually cared to check in on him, and even passing through the busiest streets of Shibuya doesn’t get him any kind of attention like it used to.

Probably for the best too.

“I am,” Goro confirms, “I’m sorry, do I know you from somewhere?”

She shouldn’t have remembered him, at least not as immediately as she did, not unless… did _he_ make some kind of link with her too?

The woman shakes her head, “Oh no, well I think we were in a photoshoot together at some point when you were doing that magazine interview. Although I haven’t seen you around since… well, I think since around Christmas. I was starting to worry something happened to you.”

“Worry?” Goro asks the random woman who’s name he couldn’t remember… and yet she could somehow remember him, and even worried for him over the last few months. That had to be worth something, “I’m sorry, I’m keeping you here but if you had some time, would you mind if we spoke another day? I’d be happy to meet anywhere.”

“Huh?” The woman asks and sets her bags down on the floor. She pulls her phone out of her jacket and pulls up her contacts, “I- um, I’d be happy too! Anywhere is good. Could I, uh, have your number?”

She did end up blushing just like some of his other fangirls did, but he still considered she was worth talking to. Either her dedication to him as a fan managed to break cognition or she had some kind of strange connection which Goro had to know about, “Yes, of course, here,” he takes her phone and types her name into it, “Just send me a text and I’ll save your number under…?”

“Mika,” the woman smiles and takes her phone back and pockets it, “Just Mika is fine. Um, I’ll see you around then, detective,” she winks at him, picks up her bags and leaves him to continue on his mission to rest up before his mission in Mementos.

Mika…

He’d have to keep an eye out on her.

Remembering him could be both a blessing and a curse in this reality.


	2. Heaven Bent

“Where are your friends?”

Goro should’ve suspected that he wouldn’t be making the trip through Mementos completely on his own, but he didn’t expect the white-haired kid to show up right at the elevator door upon his arrival. He groans and walks past him, “They aren’t my friends, and they’re not coming down here ever again.”

“Huh? Even mister-.”

“Yes, even him,” Goro cuts him off before he finishes the thought, “They’re all caught up in Maruki’s little utopia and can’t seem to break out of it anymore. We were warned, but that coward decided my life was somehow more important than free will.”

Despite his rudeness, Jose still seemed to follow after him into the lower floors of Mementos. He supposed the kid must’ve gotten lonely down here after a couple of months of lack of any contact from the outside world.

Goro stops in his tracks and turns around, Jose almost bumping into him but stopping right in front and looking up, “what’s wrong, mister?”

“Joker and the Phantom Thieves... they were the only ones who came to talk to you, weren’t they?”

“Real people don’t come here very often,” Jose confirms with him, “He would bring me flowers to drink and play games with me. It’s been a while since he’s come down here, so I haven’t had any visitors since.”

With a sigh, Goro crouches down and removes his mask, moving to eye level with the kid, “You’re alone in this world with no one to turn to, and those you trusted abandoned you here, didn't they? I can’t bring Joker or the other Phantom Thieves down here, unfortunately. Any kind of manipulation or even plea I could use wouldn’t work on them. I don't have that kind of influence with them anymore.”

“So they aren’t coming back? I was hoping he could help me figure some things out...” Jose looks down at his shoes, hiding any strange emotions he could be feeling. He couldn’t quite understand them, but he came to the conclusion that it would be reminiscent of human sadness.

“They aren’t, sorry,” Goro shakes his head, “I’m not a Phantom Thief. I may not be as resourceful as Joker was, but if you’d like, I could come here once in a while and play this game with you? I’m unsure if you know this, but I am also a renowned detective and perhaps I could help solve this mystery of yours?”

“And bring me flowers?” Jose perks up.

“I can try to collect those too, yes,” Goro agrees and stands up straight again, “I’m hoping that I’m exchange you could tell me more about Mementos, perhaps keep an eye on things in here for me. You seem to know more about any of this than even Morgana.”

Jose nods enthusiastically, “I can do that, mister! You got a deal!”

**_I am thou... Thou art I..._ **

**_Thou hast acquired a new vow..._ **

**_It shall become part of the power_ **

**_that rips the veil that covers this_ **

**_world and shows the truth to all._ **

**_With the birth of the Hermit Persona_ **

**_I have obtained the winds of blessing_ **

**_that shall lead to freedom and new power..._ **

“Oh, as a show of appreciation...” Jose snaps Goro out of his trance and points down the escalator, “There’s someone down there who wants to talk to you. He’s at the gate on the highest level. It looks like he’s waiting for someone.”

Goro looks down to where he’s pointing to, fully aware of who it exactly Jose was talking about. He hums and turns to the escalator, “Mhm, thanks for letting me know. I’ll meet you back here with some stamps and flowers once I’m done, alright?”

“Thanks mister! Good luck out there!”

Jose jumps into his car and drives down into the depths, balloons disappearing in the distance. Goro hears one last honk of the car horn and assumes Joses already disappeared off into the distance.

He opts to first go for his target. Better to do it while he wasn’t pissed off, so he doesn’t accidentally kill him. It would’ve been so much easier to do than actually changing his heart or anything like that, but given the nature of the case, admitting his crimes was a crueler fate. He’d have his life and career destroyed and Goro could once again try to rebuild his renown for his own gain. At least this time it would be a bit more noble than faking crimes.

He walks through the first floor of Mementos until he reaches his target, avoiding the shadows by sticking to the walls and staying out of people’s way. Eventually, the path starts to mutate, and the tracks begin to twist. Goro reaches the end and finds the politician waiting for him there, “You’re Nishimura, aren’t you?”

“Huh? Yeah, what about it?” The politician’s shadow answers back, looking him up and down, “Ha! You one of those Phantom Thieves or something? Get lost, kid. You can’t hurt me!”

“I’m not a Phantom Thief,” Goro shakes his head and takes a few steps closer, “Let me guess, you’ve been able to do whatever the fuck you want and no ones the wiser. You wished that you could just got about, business as usual, didn’t you?”

The shadow looks down, but it’s not to look away in shame but at least to attempt to hide his snicker before it becomes a full-blown laugh, “I couldn’t do anything without someone always suspecting something. But now? No one’s gonna give a shit if I do whatever I want! Some whore finds out and no one even questions her death!”

“So it’s true then?” Goro asks, “You killed her because she knew too much? That’s all I needed to hear,” he reaches for his mask and pulls it off, “Come to me, Loki!”

The politician melts into a pool of black mist from which a colourful man emerges, Dionysus, Goro assumes from his memory of Joker summoning a similar-looking persona. The shadow is immediately engrossed by Loki’s curse attack, but it doesn’t seem to affect him whatsoever, “Immune to curse, huh? I should have guessed from someone like you,” he quickly jumps out of the way to avoid the bolts of lighting the shadow throws at him.

“You can’t touch me! No one can!” The shadow cackles but Goro ignores him completely, summoning Loki once more.

“Hah… I doubt that,” Goro smirks and points to the Shadow, “Take him down, Loki,” with his command, Loki swings his sword at the Shadow, knocking him down on his ass and giving Goro the chance to run in and point his gun at the politician, “I told you, I’m not one of the Phantom Thieves and I won’t hesitate to pull this trigger. So, will you confess? Or have you decided to face my wrath?” When the shadow doesn't immediately respond, he summons Loki again and makes a show of taking the safety off of his pistol.

“I-I’ll do it!” The shadow lifts up his arms in defence and melts once more. The politician emerges from the pool, visibly terrified, “I-I know, I shouldn’t have abused my co-workers, lied to my family or killed that woman… but you don’t understand, I couldn’t let anyone find out! If anyone finds out about my crimes, I'm screwed!”

Goro chuckles, shaking his head, “You think I don’t understand? I’m Masayoshi Shido’s hitman, of course I understand! Well, I can’t say I understand doing something like that for power, but hiding my crimes? I’m more aware than you could ever know. Think on what you’ve done while you rot in jail. I’ll be happy to come arrest you myself once I’m done here.”

“Y-yeah…” The man trails off, “I can’t bring that woman back to life but… I can at least try and atone for my sins…” the shadow glows and disappears, leaving only a card behind of some kind. Goro picks it up and pockets it without paying too much attention to what it was.

The man’s heart must’ve changed, this is what the Thieves always did, right? It looked the same at least. Well, maybe with fewer death threats but it seemed to work anyway so he’d just have to leave it up to being his own style.

_Are you done?_

Goro puts a hand on his mask, pushing it into his throbbing head and leans against the nearby wall with his other hand while his persona disappears back into his mask, “Ugh… this telepathic bullshit is really getting on my nerves. I’ll talk to you, but only if you stop doing this shit already, it’s getting old.”

He get’s no response back, which he takes as some kind of agreement from the god and his headache goes away. At least part of it does, there’s still the constant headache he has from having Loki as his persona, but he’d gotten mostly used to that over the last three years.

He leaves the area and quickly goes down to the next level, once again avoiding the low-level shadows. He couldn’t wait to get out of this place and just go and rest for at least five minutes.

Goro waits for the stairs to take him down to the next floor, a platform that led to the next area, and instead of finding another shadow of some kind or even Jose, he sees the man in white waiting for him there. Goro’s mask disappears from his face regardless of whether he wills Loki away or not, and as soon as he steps foot on that floor, his entire suit is exchanged for the regular clothes he walked in with, “Worried that I’ll crush you with my persona? If so, you’re far weaker than I believed you to be. Don't tempt me to ravage through your palace and tear it apart.”

Maruki shakes his head, honest as ever, “No, I wanted us to talk as two individuals, as two people, not as persona users. You hate my reality, you always did. Yoshizawa-san saw the truth because I had already previously used my powers on her by accident. Amamiya-kun is a wildcard, blessed by some entity that let him see through my power as well. But you, I brought you here and you immediately knew this reality wasn’t the one you were familiar. Why is that? I want to praise your detective skills but even the most skillful detectives weren’t able to notice.”

Goro clenches his fist but stops short of gritting his teeth and letting his anger show in his voice, “That was your mistake, Maruki. You underestimated me, just like everyone else has. It has nothing to do with my detective skills. It doesn’t even have to do with my own abilities as a wildcard. I refuse to live as someone’s puppet. I know when I’m being controlled and made to act against my will, and you won’t ever be able to fool me.”

“You’re right,” Maruki agrees, “I shouldn’t have underestimated you. I’m not sure how I would have faired if you had managed to convince Ren to fight back against me. I know that if I ask you to stop, you’ll think it’s because I don’t want what I’ve built to be destroyed. That’s partially true, but I also want you to stop so you don’t suffer anymore. You have to know that I’m trying to act in your best interest here.”

Goro raises his eyebrow, unimpressed at Maruki’s attempts at convincing him, “Of course you’re acting in my best interest, I’m the one who still stands in your way, so you would be better off having me on your side than against me. You have only to gain from trying to improve my life, but what about those who are hurt by your power? Nishimura hurt so many to fulfill his dream, was that right? You can’t make everyone’s dreams come true without hurting someone along the way.”

“I’m doing what’s best for society,” Maruki argues back, “That woman? She’d been diagnosed with an incurable illness and was going to die within the next couple of months. I can change her life but I can't cure her illness. I couldn’t stop Nishimura from hurting her, but at least now she doesn’t have to suffer any longer, and I can make a new life for her, if that's what you'd like me to do. His employees? They all involved themselves with him consensually and have even benefited from this. His wife? She was already aware of the affair and had come to terms with it. Your engagement in all of this has only ruined that balance.”

“Balance?!” Goro finally snaps and throws his hand, “an innocent woman died! You’re a god! Stop with this high-and-mighty bullshit, you're just trying to make yourself feel better over it."

“Akechi, that’s not what I-.”

“Liar!” Goro’s costume reappears, alongside his mask on his face, “You can’t ever convince me that this is the right way to live. No human should ever be able to enter, let alone exploit Mementos, and I will do everything in my power to tear it down. I promise you; I will destroy the cognitive world.”

“I don’t doubt that you’ll try,” Maruki sighs and takes his hands out of his pockets, “But I won’t let you simply storm this place and destroy it how you see fit. I won’t give up easily. I don’t want to hurt you, you’re special to Ren and I think that would only backfire in my face, however, I’m not below using tactics to convince you that this is the best way for all of us to live. Take it as a warning, Akechi, next time you come here, I won’t be so merciful.”

With the snap of Maruki’s fingers, Goro finds himself at the entrance to Mementos again, all of himself still intact and still with the equipment he walked in with.

_Maybe my gift to you can convince you. Do not come back here, you shouldn’t be suffering so needlessly like this._

Goro punches the wall next to him, completely ignoring the headache in his head, “Get back here, you fucking coward! Fight me!”

“Um… mister?”

Goro looks away from the wall, glaring down at the kid that had been waiting for him at the turnstiles, “He threatened me and sent me back here. He changed the world once again and who knows what monstrosity he’s unleashed on the world now.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jose looks genuinely apologetic at him, unafraid of Goro lashing out, “I can keep an eye on how cognition in here changes for you if you need to know but um… well I can try contacting you in the real world? I guess we’ll find out, huh? Oh, did you bring me any flowers?”

He was planning to gather some on the way back up top, but it didn’t seem like Maruki was giving him any kind of chance to go back, at least not this time, “Sorry, I failed you and I didn't manage to-.”

Jose walks up to him and jumps up to pull something off his cape. He takes the flower and holds it in his tiny palm, “What do you mean? You have one right here, dontcha? Well, thank you for finding it, I really appreciate it mister!”

“Huh?” Goro looks back at his cape to see if he’d somehow caught anything else on it but it almost seemed like Jose just pulled that out of nowhere. He watches as Jose turns it into a drink and sips it from a straw, “Oh, uh, you’re welcome. I’ll try to get some more for you some other time. Maybe I can do a better job the next time I come back.”

“You’re coming back?”

“Maruki doesn’t scare me. I’d rather die than live in this reality,” Goro looks to the door and frowns, “I should go back for now. I can’t fight him in this state, and I’ll need to prepare better. Besides, I should find out what Maruki meant when he said he gifted me with something.”


	3. The Curse

Goro’s forehead taps against his front door when he reaches it, closing his eyes while he fumbles for the keys in his pocket. He pulls them out, unlocks the door with a sigh and walks in. He locks the door behind him before taking off his shoes, but just as he’s undoing the laces on his right shoe, he realises something peculiar.

Didn’t he turn the lights off before leaving?

It wasn’t like him to be this sloppy and waste power that _he’d_ have to pay back later, fake reality or not.

“Took you long enough to get back.”

Goro quickly stands up and turns around to face the woman who was speaking to him. She wore an apron and holds a spoon with what Goro assumed to be curry on it, “What-.”

“I was starting to worry for you, you know. Plus, your dinner is getting cold and the last time you tried to reheat food you made such a mess of my kitchen I thought it might just be easier to set off a bomb in there and renovate it rather than bother cleaning it,” The woman rolls her eyes and goes back to his kitchen, as if she had been comfortable in his own kitchen, in his own apartment that he’d lived in completely on his own for three years now.

There was never anyone else in here but him, there wasn’t _supposed_ to be anyone else in here but him, “Well, what are you standing around there for?”

He knew Maruki was sick. He knew Maruki would twist something of his and turn against him in some poor effort to gain his trust, but he didn’t expect him to fall as low as bringing his own mother back to life. He should’ve at least predicted something like this. No matter how much he wanted to hide his emotions he couldn’t stop a god from reading his brain and figuring out his past.

Goro shakes his head and removes his shoes, knowing better than to bring that whole ordeal up with someone who probably had no idea about the existence of the cognitive world.

But he definitely needed an opportunity to speak with someone about this who did know something. Even if he disagreed with him on everything nowadays.

“Thank you for waiting for me,” he says to her and takes a seat at the table while she serves him a plate of curry. He needed to figure out where he stood with her as quickly as possible, what she knew about him and his side job, what she didn’t know, if this version of her even knew about his connection with Shido. He’d have to wait at least until after dinner with any kind of revelation or interrogation.

Once she puts the plate down in front of him, his mother, or whatever cognitive version of her Maruki created, sits down next to him.

“How’s your day been?”

“Hmm?” Goro asks with his mouth full, so he chews and swallows before answering. He needed to be cautious here. Or maybe he didn’t. Maybe if he immediately told her he’d been working as her former lover’s hitman as a revenge plot against every wrong that man committed against him, maybe she’d disappear and he could go back to his almost normal shitty life. Or she’d call up a mental hospital. Not a risk worth taking, “Um… it was fine. I went to see Ren in Leblanc earlier, then I just spent some time in the city.”

His mother doesn’t seem entirely convinced by that, “Until 10? How long were you at Leblanc for? And what were you doing there with Ren anyway? Last I remember you didn’t get along with him all that much.”

“I have a disagreement with him,” Goro confirms, unable to entirely stop himself from telling her the truth. For all he knew, she was Maruki’s way of keeping an eye on him but… it had been so long since he was able to speak with her at all. Even if he had to pretend like she was always here and that her sudden reappearance in his life wasn’t bizarre in any way. So, he keeps talking as if this truly was a regular conversation the two of them would have. It seemed to be working so far, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate his company or his opinion on certain matters. We played chess in his room, but we mostly talked.”

“I see,” His mother nods and puts a stray hair behind her ear, “Well, at least warn me next time you’ll be out so late! I’m sure even _you_ have enough time to send your worried mother a text.”

“Y-yeah,” Goro nods, “I’ll be sure to do that next time,” he gives her a weak smile before he finishes up his, for the first time in years, home-cooked dinner and stands up to go wash the dishes. Instead, however, his mother reaches out and tries to take the plate from him, “No, it’s alright, I can wash up. It’s the least I can do after making you worry.”

“Thank you,” his mother walks away and goes to the living room while Goro takes off his jacket, hangs it over the chair and pulling up his sleeves. He collects all the dishes and gets them done relatively quickly, then reaches for his phone while his mother wasn’t paying attention to him and pulls up his chatting up app.

 **Goro** : I’ve come back from Mementos, in case you were wondering.

 **Ren** : Need me to come over for some first aid or something?

 **Ren** : You told me to check on you tomorrow

 **Ren** : Are you hurt?

 **Goro** : No, I didn’t sustain any injuries while I was there, not physical ones at least.

 **Goro** : However, something else happened.

 **Goro** : Could we speak again tomorrow?

 **Goro** : I’d appreciate it if you could come over. I’m not sure I even trust Sojiro or Morgana overhearing any of this.

 **Ren** : Sure, just let me know when.

Goro puts his phone back in his pocket and walks to where his mother was sitting on the couch, watching a re-run of the evening news, where his face suddenly appears, walking alongside some police officers into the police station earlier tonight.

Oh shit that’s right…

“After months of unexplained absence, the detective prince has returned and arrested a Diet-member on murder charges. Kazuki Nishimura has been taken into custody where he has already confessed to his crimes.”

“You were just with Ren, was it?” His mother asks, “You didn’t tell me you were out working. Why did you lie to me, then?”

“Sorry about that,” Goro shakes his head, “I didn’t want you to worry further and bringing up a murder case during dinner didn’t seem quite appropriate, so I thought it best to omit that. I’ll be more truthful next time.”

She pats the seat next to her and waits for Goro to walk around the couch and take a seat next to her, “Then tell me, as much as you can at least. What happened?”

Goro shakes his head. It’s not like he couldn’t tell her, at this stage the rest of the case rested on the prosecutors and it’s not like his mother was involved in the case whatsoever, but it was as good as excuse as any to not tell her the specific details. Besides, what would he even tell her? I talked to his cognitive self and threatened him with murder into confessing? “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you more than what that news story already did, at least not until after his case has been heard.”

Without realising it, his mother puts her arm around him and pulls him to lie down and lean on her shoulder, where she starts to brush through his hair with her fingers, “Promise me you’re being careful, okay? I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you…”

Damn Maruki to hell.

“Hmm…” Goro closes his eyes. That definitely wasn’t something he could honestly promise her. For one, she wasn’t real. Once he destroyed this world, she wouldn’t even exist anymore, and honestly he wasn’t even sure if he’d be around either. This wasn’t even taking into account how dangerous it would be for him here on out on his path to destroy Maruki’s reality. He could always do what he did best, however, “I promise I’ll be careful,” he lies.

“That’s all I wanted to hear,” she smiles down at him while still stroking his hair, “That’s the last of what you haven’t told me, yes? I don’t want to wait around five more minutes and find out you also stopped by the post office to set it on fire or something.”

Goro chuckles, “No, nothing of the sort. I was wondering something…” he reopens his eyes and leans away, “Um…” he struggles to find the right words. Maruki must’ve changed a lot if she was somehow here. For one, if she’d always lived here, or at least moved here with Goro, then she probably had her own room. More importantly, if she had moved to Tokyo with him, had she kept the same job as before? “What time will you be working tomorrow?”

“The same as usual,” she replies nonchalantly, “9 till 6, why do you ask?”

Well if she did have the same job, the working hours were certainly much different than what they were before, “No reason. I was going to invite Ren here tomorrow, if that’s alright.”

Not that she could stop him from speaking with Ren anyway.

“Just make sure you don’t make too much of a mess then,” she stands up and walks to the bathroom, “Well, today has been quite tiring for me so I’m going to get ready for bed. Don’t stay up too late, okay?”

* * *

A loud knocking at his door is what ends up waking up Goro from his deep, dreamless sleep and he’s almost certain he knows who it is at the door. Why the hell was he here this early??

He quickly grabs the nearest hoodie he’s got and pulls it on, taps down at his hair so it’s not a complete mess and walks out of his room. He looks through the peephole and his suspicions are confirmed. He unlocks the door and lets his guest through, long having stopped giving any kind of shit about his dishevelled appearance in front of him “You’re here early. I haven’t even had the chance to get dressed.”

“Early? It’s almost noon,” Ren takes his shoes off and notices something strange for his apartment, “I didn’t know you wore heels, Goro. Is there some part of you I’m unfamiliar with yet?”

“They’re my mothers,” he replies, unimpressed, “Make yourself at home. As you can see, I’ve only just woken up, so I’ll need ten minutes since I’d rather not have this conversation in my pyjamas,” he lets Ren do whatever he wants around his apartment, not like he had anything else to hide from him at this point and goes back to his room to grab and shirt and pants before he freshens up in the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, as promised, he walks out drying his hair with a towel and finds Ren making coffee in his kitchen. He hangs the towel over a chair to leave it to dry, “I changed the man’s heart and arrested him, though I’m sure you must have heard at least that much on the news or guessed I would do as much yourself. Of course, no one suspects the Phantom Thieves as I disposed of the calling card while I was arresting him, though even if I’m certain Maruki would have just erased any knowledge the public has of you. As far as the police is concerned, his guilty conscience was enough to confess.”

“Congratulations,” Ren replies, little emotion showing as usual, and pours the hot cup of coffee into two different mugs before setting it in front of Akechi, “I’m glad you managed to do it, seriously.”

“But not glad enough to actually help me with it,” Goro sits down and Ren follows, “But fine, I didn’t come here to argue with you over whether accepting this reality was the correct choice or not. I spoke with Maruki about all of this, not that he left me a choice in the matter. Long story short, he said that he would leave me a gift, one that would convince me that his reality was the correct one.”

“He made one of your wishes come true?”

“He brought my mother back to life. I never expressed such a wish to him.”

Ren pauses halfway through drinking his coffee, swallows what he did drink, and sets the mug back down, “Did you want her to come back?”

“No,” Goro shakes his head, “Well, I’m certain that some part of me must have, otherwise Maruki would have maybe… I don’t know, killed Shido or made him suffer more for what he did, something like that. But do I actually want her here? No. This isn’t the real version of her, as much as she does act and look like my mother, she’s just another product of this fake reality.”

“That’s not it,” Ren disagrees with him, “You know she’s real. You looked into Futaba’s mother and Haru’s father, you know that all Maruki did was erase your crimes, not bring them back to life. Meaning that-.”

“Fine, you’re right. He must have erased her suicide and any suffering Shido caused her that led to it,” Goro admits, “Though not that it makes it any better. I haven’t had the chance to look into it yet, but I was planning on investigating her today after our conversation. In this reality she must have been happy to raise me but… well the memories of my childhood still remain the same so I wouldn’t be able to tell you what he changed. In my mind, I was still passed from family member to foster home, I was still Shido’s hitman and she only showed up yesterday. This is giving me a headache, all the more reason to destroy this reality.”

“But if you do destroy his reality, you’ll erase her too.”

“Good,” Goro picks up the mug of coffee, “I don’t want to see my mother suffer, not like she did back then, but I can’t continue to watch her as Maruki’s puppet. If she stayed here, I could never trust her, I couldn’t believe whether her words were truthful or just a manipulation created by him. I could never be certain if she even has any free will of her own. A life without being able to make decisions for yourself is no life at all.”

Ren looks down at his mug while Goro drinks his coffee, “Why did you bring me here then if your mind is set? You know my stance on this. I won’t destroy this reality if it means your death.”

“Ugh, yes, I’m aware about that annoying saviour complex of yours,” Goro rolls his eyes at him, “But you’re still the only person I’m comfortable confiding in on these matters, so until I find a better conversation partner, you’ll have to suffice,” he says bitterly and begins to hum before trying to phrase his next question correctly, “For a minute, let’s pretend that Maruki is purely evil. Agree to disagree on that, whatever makes you comfortable, but accept it for this thought experiment, will you?”

“Fine, go on.”

“Defeating him wouldn’t be a concern for the Phantom Thieves as a target. He’s another shitty adult who’s using others as a means to an end, yes?” Goro waits for Ren to nod for confirmation, “in which case our only concern is the effects that destroying this reality are. You’re under the impression that if we destroy this reality then Wakaba, Okumura and everyone other revived individual who’s life ended prematurely in our reality will die once again, and we would be at fault for their deaths, wouldn’t we?”

“Yes,” Ren agrees with that, “We’re the ones who destroyed the reality in which they were alive.”

“So upon destroying this reality, I would be killing my own mother.”

Silence falls over the apartment when Ren doesn’t answer his question, so Goro just sighs instead, “That answers that. I was wondering if you could do something for me at least. It has nothing to do with the metaverse or the Phantom Thieves or anything like that. I need to figure out what’s changed in my past so I don’t end up letting something slip.”

“What do you need?”

Goro stands up and looks around for some paper. He finds a little red notebook and writes down two names on a piece of paper he rips out of it before passing it over to Ren, “You have a lot of connections, don’t you? I was hoping you could ask around if anyone’s heard of either of these names and where, I would be grateful. I’ll check police records too but they’re bound to be limited.”

“You want me as your liaison?” Ren asks, picking up the piece of paper, “Or your informant?”

“I’d like you to be both. Surely this doesn’t go against your own morals. This is purely for information, perhaps even for things I can resolve in the real world,” he sees Ren’s hesitance in helping him any further than just a conversation or the occasional chess match, “You’re going to be applying to college’s this year, aren’t you? But your criminal record hasn’t been overturned yet, thanks to how slowly government moves. I’ve been gaining more influence with the police again and could probably speed that process up in return, even if I start rumours about my abuse of power. How about it?”

“You have a deal, then. If you need me to get any intel for you, I can see what my connections can do.”

**_I am thou... Thou art I..._ **

**_Thou hast acquired a new vow..._ **

**_It shall become part of the power_ **

**_that rips the veil that covers this_ **

**_world and shows the truth to all._ **

**_With the birth of the Justice Persona_ **

**_I have obtained the winds of blessing_ **

**_that shall lead to freedom and new power..._ **

“Nozomi and Isamu Kimura… are these people who took care of you after…?” Ren says, reading the names from the paper, “You’ve never mentioned these names before. Not that you’ve been very explicit about anyone in your family other than your mother.”

“They weren’t relevant to any of our conversations until now,” Goro points out while Ren pockets the piece of paper, “It would be helpful to know if they exist in this reality, and if they do, then what they’re up to. I don’t like working with unknowns.”


	4. The Blessing

“Akechi?”

Goro turns his head when he hears his name coming from one of his co-workers, and smiles when she approaches him, putting his mask on once more, “Good afternoon, Niijima-Sam. Is there anything I can assist you with?”

She shakes her head, “No, actually given the case I’m handling right now it’s perhaps for the best that you don’t assist me.”

“Then do you simply wish to engage in some small talk?”

She motions for him to follow her away from prying ears and into the nearby elevator, “Thanks to this case, I’ve been promoted to a high enough position to have an office of my own. I suppose in a roundabout way I have you to thank for that.”

“For testifying against Shido?” Goro asks while they wait for the doors of the elevator to open, “I hardly had a choice in the matter. Though as always, I’m happy to accept any praises you sing of me, Sae-san. Is that what we’re doing? You’re showing off your new office?”

When the doors open, Niijima walks in first followed by Goro, “Call it a bonus. I want to discuss your most recent file request. I was notified of it when it came up.”

“Oh?” The doors shut behind them but Goro knows better than to get into details about this in a place with cameras, “I didn’t think this would be of any interest to the SIU. They’re two private individuals who aren’t under investigation as far as I’m aware. I’m only looking into them for private matters, not because I think they’re related to any criminal activity that I’m currently investigating.”

Niijima only hums back, which Goro takes to mean as her way of saying that she has a response to that, but not one that she wants to share while they’re still in the elevator. As such, they ride the rest of the way in complete silence and even when they step out neither of them say a word until they’re behind the closed doors of her new office.

“You have quite the view,” Goro comments, walking over to the tall windows of her office overlooking the city, “Last I heard you were considering becoming a defence attorney. I didn’t think they’d get these kinds of luxuries.”

“They don’t,” Niijima agrees and takes a seat at her desk, “I spoke to my father about this and we talked about how I could improve the SIU by working as a higher-level prosecutor from the inside. I accepted my promotion and moved into this office a month ago, but I didn’t want to bother you with your studies.”

Goro turns around and walks to a couch that Niijima had in her office, opting to sit there instead of across from Niijima like he was an actual client, “You wouldn’t have. I opted to start later, so currently I’m only taking some introductory courses,” not that he ever planned to live past the elections and actually go to college in the first place, “Anyway, the files I requested? You had some questions about them?”

“I was wondering why you were so quick to say that neither of these people are involved in any crimes,” she replies, unlocking a desk drawer and pulling out a manilla folder, “What do you know about the Kimura family?”

“They’re my relatives,” Goro is quick to say, “I should explain. By now you know that Shido is my father but my mother died when I was younger and since no one knew who my father was, I was bounced between multiple members of my family who never quite knew what to do with me. The Kimura’s took care of me for the longest time out of all of them. I lost any and all contact I had with them.”

She moves the file to the edge of the table and waits for him to fetch it himself, but he does no such thing and stays sitting on the couch. She sighs but doesn’t make any movement beyond that, “I don’t have too much good news then if you were close to them.”

“I never said I was close to them,” Goro counters her before she begins to pity him any further, “I merely said we’re related by blood. I was curious to know how they were doing but I have no contact information and given that you wished to speak with me privately I’ve already made peace with the worst-case scenario. So then, what happened?”

“We... no one is quite sure, actually,” Niijima takes the file back and opens it for herself, “Isamu disappeared from public records after he got into a high school near Kyoto but there’s been no paper trail of him dropping out or even graduating, no report cards or anything else for that matter. He vanished from the system. As for his mother... all she had to say was that her son ran away from home and she reported it but nothing came to light. On the records, he’s been presumed dead at this point. Maybe you could tell me... was there any kind of indication that he would do this kind of thing?”

Goro shrugs, finally standing up to take the file from Niijima’s hands, “I wouldn’t know. I was treated well enough for an orphan by anyone’s standards in this country and I kept to myself. It’s a shame I suppose, though I could try speaking to the mother myself and see if I can get any information out of her on this. Perhaps she is covering up for her son’s illegal activities in some way?”

“If he were a criminal, we probably would have caught him by now.”

Goro chuckles, “Ah yes, and how did all that evidence gathering go for Madarame? Or Kaneshiro? Or Okumura? Or Shido? Even I managed to avoid the polices investigations despite being right under their nose, and even if you do happen to have arrested him, I’m sure by now he’s going by a completely different, unrecognisable name and past.”

“You sound so certain,” Niijima replies in a calm tone though her clenched fists tell Goro that his comment wasn’t taken well, “How can you be sure of it?”

“Because if he’s half as smart as I am then he would’ve done what I certainly would have in his place,” he closes the files, “This is a closed case, correct? And a copy at that. May I take this with me? I won’t show it to anyone else, but I’d like to look over the details.”

“At your discretion, yes,” Niijima nods, “If anything comes up, I expect to be informed immediately.”

“As always, Sae-san,” His phone buzzes in his pocket and he pulls it out to find a text from another person he’s been meaning to talk to, asking him to meet them in Kichijoji, “I hope that’s all as I have other matters to attend to.”

“For now. Have fun, wherever it is you’re going.”

* * *

“Akechi-kun!” Mika exclaims when she looks up from her phone and sees the detective walking in her direction, “I’m so glad we could meet on such short notice! So, you must have had a reason to give someone like me your phone number, right? I know you don’t give out your number to any random girl~.”

“That’s... true,” good lord was this a mistake if this was how she was going to act the rest of their afternoon, “There’s a cafe around here I’m quite fond of. Their coffee is decent enough,” not quite LeBlanc’s but maybe it was for the best to not bring any of his new acquaintances there, “Shall we?”

With her nod, he leads her through the busy streets of the city, past all of the wonderful smells of the food stalls they passed by and right up to the doors of the cafe. He opts to sit inside, so he opens the door for her and walks in afterwards. They take a seat in one of the booths near the back and Goro hands her the menu, “You recognised me in the station that day.”

“Well of course I did!” Mika smiles, picking up the menu from the table, “You’re the infamous Akechi Goro, the high school detective. Although I suppose now it would be the college detective, right?”

Goro fakes a laugh, the one that would always get his fans swooning whenever he used it on tv. It made him sick, “I’ve been so busy with the phantom thieves that I didn’t have the time to properly look at my prospects. Of course I can get into any college I would like but for the time being I’ve decided to slow down and pick up some introductory courses.”

“Slowing down is still more work for you?” Mika cocks an eyebrow, “Everything you say just inspires me to work harder and harder.”

“It’s a matter of perspective,” Goro says just as the waitress shows up. She takes their orders and gives an opportunity for Goro to go back to what he really wanted to talk to her about, “The public is quite fickle. You step away from the limelight for a month and you’re instantly forgotten. In November I could barely step out of my apartment with receiving an invitation to a free dinner or without being instantly recognised by anyone with access to the internet. By January I had to give my name when ordering a Frostbucks and they still somehow misspelled it.”

She reaches a hand out and puts it on top of Goro’s gloves one. He loathes the pitiful gesture, and it takes his entire self-control to act like that’s exactly what he was after, “Oh Akechi-kun, I’m sure everything will work itself out! People are total idiots if they can’t see just how talented you really are!”

“In which case, what does that make you, Mika?” Goro finally pulls his hands away, “Either you’re such a dedicated fan girl that even after months of no appearances you still care about who I am, or there’s something more going on. So tell me then, are you one of my little devoted fan girls who can’t go a day without looking at a picture of me? Or are you not a ‘total idiot’?”

He’s not quite sure what to expect from her reaction. Most of him thinks she’s going to tear up and run out the door and in the worst case he’s wasted about 15 minutes and 700 yen on decent enough coffee.

He didn’t think she would sit back, cross her arms and chuckle, “Of course I’m not a total idiot, sheesh. You think I’d make it this far in the fashion world if I didn’t have a brain? The rest of the girls are pretty stupid but they’re either the daughters of influential people or sucking enough dick that the editors are more than happy to replace the other girls. I need to have something going for me other than my looks, you know.”

“Good,” Goro smiles, content with the outcome of it so far. Maybe his 700 yen wasn’t a waste then, “Then let’s talk like the people we actually are and not whatever hideous masks we put on to get by,” he drops any princely tone he’d been using earlier. It was getting exhausting, “Why did you recognise me?”

Mika shrugs, “Call it fate. Honestly you never really left my mind, detective. You’re cute, so you threw me off at first but then I realised that maybe you’re smarter than you’re letting on and if I ever needed to use you I would need a bigger plan.”

“Pretending to be my fan girl was never going to work.”

“You seemed desperate enough for the attention.”

“I’d like to think even I haven’t fallen that low. What do you want from me anyway?” The waitress brings them their respective orders, a tea for Mika and a double espresso for Goro.

“I want to make a deal then, if nothing else will work,” Mika says as soon as the waitress is out of earshot, “I need a detective, but I can’t go to the police with this at all.”

“You would be entirely out of luck regardless. They’re incompetent. Continue,” he takes a sip of his coffee.

“There’s something strange going on down at my agency,” Mika begins her explanation, “The girls are signing contracts they would’ve rejected even just a month ago but now they’re happy to do it like it’s no problem. Mines ending soon and they’ve given me an offer but if I sign it I’ll be practically giving my entire life away to them. I don’t want to be brainwashed or whatever’s happening into signing it so I need someone who could actually investigate it.”

It’s a case, our and simple, one he might be able to solve in just one afternoon but even so..., “what’s in it for me? A money payment isn’t quite enough to pique my interest, just so you know.”

Mika rolls her eyes, “Well then lucky for you, I have some connections at the TV studio. You want to be famous, don’t you? I can help you with that. Help me out and I’ll let my friends know that Akech Goro is once again rising to the top. How about it?”

Considering all of his previous contacts, save for Niijima and Ren, were all thanks to Shido, this wasn’t a bad deal. If the cognitive world worked how he thought it did... maybe his tv appearances could weaken Maruki if he was convincing enough? “Very well, you have a deal.”

**_I am thou... Thou art I..._ **

**_Thou hast acquired a new vow..._ **

****

**_It shall become part of the power_ **

**_that rips the veil that covers this_ **

**_world and shows the truth to all._ **

****

**_With the birth of the Lovers Persona_ **

**_I have obtained the winds of blessing_ **

**_that shall lead to freedom and new power..._ **

* * *

Goro’s initial instinct is to stay out of his apartment for as long as possible. It was always empty, cold and only served to remind him of where his place was in life, that he should somehow be grateful for having any kind of shelter even if it was paid for with blood money. He knows that’s not the case anymore.

Since the appearance of his mother in his life, his fridge contained more than just a couple of sad packaged meals, there was almost no space in the bathroom shelves for his and his mother’s products and the place smelled of clean laundry and candles rather than blood, disinfectant, and his poor attempt at covering the smell of his own blood with cheap air freshener.

Still, the idea of returning to that place made him sick to his stomach. The first evening with her was surprisingly pleasant, having a home cooked meal and someone actually asking him if he was doing okay, caring for him. It made him want to puke.

Rather than having to deal with any of that, he opens up his messaging app, lets her know that he’ll be out late so she doesn’t suspect anything. He can deal with any reprecussions later.

 **Goro** : Hello, Niijima-san has asked me for her help at the office so I may be coming home late.

 **Mum** : Thank you for letting me know. Do you know what time you’ll be back?

That he couldn’t tell. Determining how long he could be in the metaverse for was still an impossible feat even for him. Hours spent in the metaverse sometimes equated to mere minutes. Other times an hour spent in the metaverse meant half an hour spent in the real world. Not that he could explain to her the intricacies of the cognitive world as a reason for why he wouldn’t be home for dinner.

 **Goro:** It’s a little hard to tell.

 **Goro** : But you should not wait for me with dinner.

 **Goro** : I’ll let you know once I’m coming back.

With that out of the way, he opens up the metaverse navigator and types in a singular keyword. He closes his eyes as the world sways around him and people disappear off the streets. When he reopens his eyes, he’s once again alone in the world.

He takes the stairs down into the train station and finds the usual scene before him- red walls, red floors, tentacles everywhere but... the smell. Something had changed. The cognition of the public never smelled quite right. These smells weren’t pleasant in any describable way, but they weren’t anything Goro could ever compare them to before.

So why was he smelling flowers?

Another unfamiliar sight greets him- the girl with the blue dress, white hair and yellow eyes, Lavenza as he recalls Ren calling her once, stands outside a glowing blue jail cell, expecting him to walk over.

Curious enough, he does as he’s expected, “Lavenza, that’s your name, isn’t it?”

“Yes, my name is Lavenza, and I’m here to welcome you, our guest, into the Velvet Room, however at this time this is not possible.”

“Velvet room? Not possible?”

Lavenza nods once, “Maruki’s reality has made it difficult for me to reveal myself to you, and even now maintaining a physical form requires the combination of my and my master’s power. We wish to aid you in your journey, to any extent that we may.”

“Aid me?” Goro asks. He didn’t think he’d get any kind of help down here other than Jose’s intel, but this could certainly be useful, “What can you do?”

“Under normal circumstances, I could aid you in fusing and strengthening your personas. Unfortunately without full access to the Velvet Room this is not possible. If you continue down this path of rebellion and form bonds that will allow you to break free from this reality, I’m certain Maruki’s power will grow weak enough to allow full use of the Velvet Room once more. Until then, my capabilities are limited.”

Of course it wasn’t going to be that easy. Ren probably had access to this place since day one without having any idea of what a persona even was. Goro was going to have to work hard just to have access, “Alright then, what can you do, Lavenza? Right now, that is.”

“I can instruct you on your current bonds. I was unable to do so for many years, but now with the false god gone, you have been given the ability to form these bonds yourself.” She holds her hand out and a card lands in her palm, “You are the Fool. You are only one of two entities that can break free from this reality with your own free will and restore the real world to its former self.”

“The other one is Ren, isn’t it?”

Lavenza nods again and another card appears in her hand, “The Justice, one who is concerned with fairness, rationality and truth. Despite your complicated relationship with him, it seems that he is willing to aid you in your pursuit of determining what has changed in this reality. You have also accessed the Hermit, the one who hides away in the shadows of Mementos, away from its ruler, and the Lovers, the one who has attempted to trick you, but you had ultimately chosen to aid. If you continue to nurture these bonds, they will grow stronger and grant you more power than you can imagine.”

“Enough to beat Maruki, I hope.”

The cards disappear from her hand and she looks down, “This game has never been just for you, Akechi Goro, but it is not impossible to win. I cannot make the decisions for you, but I will aid you in any that you make. I will not fail another Trickster.”

**_I am thou... Thou art I..._ **

**_Thou hast acquired a new vow..._ **

**_It shall become part of the power_ **

**_that rips the veil that covers this_ **

**_world and shows the truth to all._ **

**_With the birth of the Hierophant Persona_ **

**_I have obtained the winds of blessing_ **

**_that shall lead to freedom and new power..._ **

Another card falls in between them, “The Hierophant arcana. I will aid you in any way I can, Trickster.”

“Thank you, Lavenza,” Goro nods and points down to the stairs, “You wouldn’t happen to know then... why can I smell cherry blossoms?”

"About that..." Jose's voice causes the detective to turn around. He carries a bouquet of flowers in his hands and drops them on the floor in front of Goro, "There's something I'd like to show you, mister. It's like there's some kind of disease spreading in Mementos."


	5. The Garden

The smell of flowers only gets stronger and stronger as Goro waits for the moving stairs to take him to the first floor of mementos. Roses, lavender, lilies, all of it was so different from anything Goro expected from his trip down here, “how long has it been like this?”

“Not that long,” Jose shakes his head, “I’ve been exploring this area since you last left and tried to contact you, but I haven't been able to leave Mementos at all or contact anyone outside of it.”

“You should speak with Lavenza, maybe she can help you. Though it appears that even she’s having trouble communicating with anyone from outside the metaverse.”

When he reaches the bottom of the moving stairs, Mementos is no longer the gloomy landscape of train tracks and noises groaning in the distance. Instead, the tracks are replaced with a gravel path, the platforms with grass, trees, flowers and bushes. A river flows nearby, the sun shines brightly and birds chirp as a replacement for the moaning of the shadows.

It’s horrific.

“Is it all like this?”

Jose shakes his head, “Not all of Mementos, just this path but... the other paths have been blocked off. Even I can’t seem to get to them, so it looks like whoever did this really doesn’t want anyone snooping around.”

Goro pulls out his phone just to double check his metaverse navigator, but just as it had been since February, in his history Maruki’s palace shows up with a little lock icon over it, “He’s sealing off any possible point of entry I would have to him. While I’m still alive I pose a threat to him, with a persona and the willpower to oppose him. There’s nothing he can do but guard against any possible attacks. Not that this is going to stop me,” he looks down at Jose as he puts his phone back into his pocket, “You’re still here? I would have thought you'd leave by now.”

Jose just shrugs in return, “There isn’t much to explore now and I’m not going to find out anymore about humans if I stay behind. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to follow and see what you do. Is that alright, mister?”

Goro just sighs in return. He knows that even if he runs into shadows, powerful ones even, the kid was going to be more than fine. Their battle against him back in January showed him as much. His safety was hardly a concern, but having someone merely observe him in a palace like this...

It wasn’t like Goro didn’t like attention. Far from it, he thrived from attention. Specifically, attention to details he orchestrated in a scenario where he knew exactly where everyone stood and what everyone’s next move would be.

Mementos as it was, with him in an unknown situation, baring his soul for all who would watch to see was hardly the kind of show he enjoyed.

Although the company of another sentient being, one that certainly wasn’t controlled by Maruki, would be welcome, “We have a deal, do we not? These aren’t quite the kind of flowers you’re looking for, are they? I don't think I'd be able to hold up my end of our bargain,” He asks, pointing to the bushes.

“No but that’s alright!” Jose reassures him, “I’ll just follow you around instead and see what’s caused all of this. What do you think of this place?”

“In reality I would consider it to be beautiful,” Goro admits truthfully, choosing to slowly and carefully make his way down the gravel path, “Gardens like this one are always quite pleasant and a wonderful distraction from the loudness of the city. It doesn’t belong here, the crowded world of the cognition of the public. It’s too perfect, too... beautiful. Human nature isn’t like this.”

“What is human nature like, then?”

“Ugly,” Goro replies quickly, “Mementos was... complicated when I first entered, but it made sense, at least as much sense as it could make. This, on the other hand, perplexed me. It is closer to an individual’s palace-,” he cuts himself off and stops in his tracks, “Jose... have you seen anyone on this path? Any cognition at all since I left?”

Jose hums when he tries to recall Goro’s last visit and ends up shaking his head, “Nope, no shadows here at all. That probably explains the lack of flowers and the loneliness too. That’s never happened here before.”

“It shouldn’t have happened, no,” Goro agrees, “If we are still in Mementos, we should be swarmed by shadows and yet there are none. Maruki closed off the paths ahead to prevent me from reaching the depths because if I turn the public against him, he loses power... the more cognitions he keeps away from me, the more power he can retain but he cannot leave these floors completely empty, otherwise reaching the depths would take me less than a day.”

“That means that there has to be someone here, right?” Jose fills in for him.

Goro agrees with him with a nod, “It isn’t a palace but... this is the cognition of only one individual. Maruki’s built a paradise so it wouldn’t be far-fetched to think this is that individual’s ideal reality. It’s a utopia... but I’m still missing something...”

_My, my, ever the detective, aren’t we? You are quite right, but it seems that you are missing some pieces. Come, meet me at the gazebo and we shall speak. I seek no harm against you, I would never let such ugliness as violence appear in my beautiful garden._

“The palace ruler...” Goro concludes but quickly corrects himself, “Rather, the creator of this cognition of this path seems to know everything that goes on here before I even have a chance to explore. I suppose I have no other option but to follow through.”

He continues down the twisting path, passing even more variations of bushes and flowers in the garden with Jose by his side, observing every inch of the place. A wind breezes by, swooping up all of the cherry blossom petals into the air, and once it stops, Goro notices a figure at the end of the path in a green sundress and pink sun hat and garden gloves.

“It has been quite some time since we had a serious talk like this, hasn’t it?” The girl turns around, smile on her face, “Over three months, correct? It took you a little while to get here.”

“That’s none of your concern, Okumura,” Goro replies harshly, watching her walk to a bridge overarching a small stream, “Was I correct in my deduction? You’re the only one here?”

“Oh, yes,” Haru nods and nods to the bridge, “I’ve prepared some tea on the gazebo, won’t you join me?”

“I don’t think I will,” Goro shakes his head, “You’re all too happy to have tea with your fathers murderer.”

“My fathers’ murderer?” Haru asks, clearly confused. She closes her yellow eyes briefly, frowning, before it all disappears again, “No, that can’t be right… my father is alive and well. I just had lunch with him between my classes. Why would I be concerned about having lunch with one of my friends?”

“I’m not your friend. You shouldn’t be here,” Goro stops in his tracks and points to the trees, “This, you know this is all fake. Some fantasy you’ve created to shield yourself from the truth. I’m not your friend, I never was. I was the man who killed your father, manipulated you and the others into working with me only to try and kill your leader, and then attempted to kill all of you a second time. This is all just a lie you’ve created so you don’t have to face reality. Your father is dead, Okumura!”

The birds stop chirping around them and the clouds block the sun from shining down. The wind stops carrying the smell of the flowers, all while silence falls between Goro and the cognition. Until she smiles again, starts giggling even, and everything returns back to normal. At least as normal as it could be for this bizarre, twisted place, “My, Akechi-kun, you’ve made up quite the interesting story. If you weren’t a detective, I think you could make quite the novelist. I would be happy to read your work someday.”

Why did he even bother. This was clearly just some cognition Maruki had been controlling. She was never going to realise all of this was just a fabrication, she’d keep on living in this lie until…

Until when?

Goro couldn’t change her heart.

This wasn’t a palace, Haru didn’t have a treasure to steal, no desires to be taken, nothing that she’s twisted beyond recognition.

If he burned down this garden it would just reappear within a few hours as if nothing had changed.

The Haru in the real world definitely wouldn’t even know anything happened. She wouldn’t know this conversation ever happened.

But then… how was it that Maruki could control her shadow?

Why did he see her, and not her persona?

“Convincing you is meaningless,” Goro decides and turns around, “I think I’ll be leaving now.”

“Leaving?” Haru asks and shakes her head, “No, no, you only just got here. I can’t leave my guest empty handed like this.”

“I’m going.” 

**_NO!!!_ **

Vines come out of the ground around Goro, barely giving him enough time to jump out of the way as it tries to form a cage around him and trap him, Jose enough of a distance away that the vines don’t affect him. It was almost like he was completely invisible to her, “Okumura?”

“You don’t understand. No one can be harmed in my garden. Won't you stay in my garden, Akechi-kun? It's the most wonderful, safest place in the world” her yellow eyes shine brighter than before as the vines desperately try to grab at Goro.

He dodges them at first, eventually reaching for his sabre and slicing them out of the way. He manages to escape them, getting further and further away from the cognition, vines snapping out from under him. Breathing heavily, he reaches the stairs and runs up until he’s back on the ground floor, back at the subway station.

Jose walks up next to him, apparently completely unharmed, “Why did she start attacking you? She wanted to have tea, didn’t she?”

Goro shakes his head, “She wanted to trap me there, make sure nothing bad would ever happen again.”

“Do you do bad things?”

“Yes,” Goro admits pretty readily to the boy. He takes a couple of steps to a nearby wall, leans his back against it and slides down until he’s sitting. He puts his sabre next to him, removes his helmet and puts it down by his side, “I’ve done a lot of bad things, but I think she wanted to trap me there to stop anything from happening to me. This could be why we haven’t seen any cognitions either. They’re all being ‘protected’ by her,” Goro explains as he runs a hand through his hair, “I have nothing to back these claims up, of course, they’re merely deductions.”

Lavenza steps away from the glowing blue door and looks down at him, then towards the moving stairs, then back at him again, “You have witnessed how twisted Mementos has become. Do you understand what is happening?”

“No,” Goro shakes his head, “I can only deduce what may be happening. Though with regards to the Velvet Room, I suppose if Maruki has the power of everyone’s cognition at his hands, it’s no surprise you’re this weak, or at least, this easily suppressed by him. I’m not quite certain what to do about it. I don't have the kind of resources I used to.”

“Is there no one you can speak with about any of this?"

Goro smirks, “An expert in the metaverse? Unfortunately anyone who could know anything about this either refuses to help me or…” he trails off, but Jose of course has to ask him what he means by that, so he has to keep going, “Or they’re people I’ve killed in the other reality.”

Nothing in either reality was fair, was it?

“What will you do?” Lavenza asks him when the topic isn’t broached any further, “Your options appear quite limited if you do not establish further bonds.”

“Yeah, I’m aware,” he gets up, grabbing the sabre but leaving his helmet behind. It burns up into nothingness and reappears on his head with the same blue flame, “I’ll be back when I know something more.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to follow me @FeralPrince56 on twitter and tumblr for updates or any questions you'd like to ask me :D !


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